Michael Mulcahy's
Plan for Our Neighborhoods
Michael Mulcahy knows we must focus on practical and proven solutions that put our neighborhood priorities first. On the City Council, he will be ready on day one to tackle the pressing issues that matter most to all of us.
The heart of San José is our family-friendly neighborhoods — and we need a proven neighborhood leader to protect what makes San José so unique. That means:
- Turning the Corner on Homelessness
- Fully Staffing Our Police Department
- Creating High-Wage Jobs and Vibrant Business Districts
Homelessness
Turning the Corner on Homelessness
Michael Mulcahy believes San José needs to move faster on addressing homelessness. While Mayor Matt Mahan is smartly focusing on creating more safe shelter, San José needs to do more.
On any given night, almost 6,500 people are homeless in our city, including 646 youths, 891 families and 342 veterans. Shockingly, only 25% of these individuals have shelter, while 75% are residing in our streets, creeks and parks.
That’s one of the principal reasons local business owner and neighborhood leader Michael Mulcahy is running for City Council — to work with Mayor Mahan and other common-sense leaders to bring people off of our streets, out of our creeks and parks and bring them indoors to safe shelter.
San José residents witness the reality of homelessness daily with their own eyes — a stark reminder of the devastating consequences of inaction and ineffective policies. As a neighborhood advocate, Michael firmly believes it doesn’t have to be this way. Many cities nationwide are implementing programs that provide dignified shelter for a significant portion of their homeless populations. San José can and must do the same. As a resident deeply invested in the well-being of our community, Michael is committed to addressing homelessness with urgency and compassion.
Michael Mulcahy understands that the solutions are right in front of us — he will focus funding and resources on what works.
- What works is creating cost-effective, modular, individual shelters at a fraction of the cost of current methods and then requiring people to use them.
- What works is mental health treatment, making sure those who suffer from mental health challenges are in treatment — NOT on our streets.
- What works is investing in proven prevention tactics like hiring at-risk residents, economic and workforce development, and targeted rent assistance because it’s significantly cheaper to prevent homelessness than to help someone once they’re living on the streets.
- What works is proven successful programs that pay the homeless to clean up our city — so they can work their way off the streets.
- What works is implementing more rigorous oversight over homeless assistance programs to ensure that our taxpayer dollars are spent on programs that actually work.
Creating More Safe and Decent Shelter, and at a Fraction of the Cost
Mayor Matt Mahan is smartly focusing on creating more safe shelter space faster and at a lower cost. Other cities across the nation have found ways to shelter an overwhelming percentage of their homeless populations and San José must do the same.
Cities like Reno, Nevada have dramatically lowered their homeless populations by utilizing “quick-build” modular units. These units allow us to build shelter much faster, so we can focus on the most important step, which is getting people off the streets and helping them stay housed.
That’s one of the chief reasons why local business owner and neighborhood leader Michael Mulcahy is running for City Council — to work with Mahan and other common-sense leaders to bring people out of our streets, creeks and parks and indoors to safe shelter.
We know what works. For our neighborhoods in District 6, for every neighborhood in San José and for every homeless resident suffering on our streets, Michael Mulcahy is committed to solutions to bring everyone indoors.
Crime
Michael Mulcahy is a champion on safety, which our neighborhoods need on the City Council. San José used to be the safest big city in America, but we have sadly lost that vital status. Michael is running for City Council to ensure San José is again the safest major city in America.
San José saw a decrease in crime rates in 2023 when compared with the years prior, but Michael Mulcahy knows that even still, far too many of our neighbors have been victims of crime and many more are living in fear of experiencing crime. That’s why we need to hire more police officers — and make proven crime prevention programs our city’s most important priority.
Fully Staffing Our Police Department
Through his work as a neighborhood leader, small business owner and community advocate, Michael has a proven track record of improving our neighborhoods’ safety and economic vitality. That’s why he earned the sole endorsement of San José police officers. Michael will fight to keep rebuilding our police force — because more neighborhood cops mean less neighborhood crime. In fact, an increase in police staffing by just 10% is estimated to reduce violent crimes by 3.4%, homicides by 6.7% and property crime by 1.7%.
“San José Police Officers Stand with Michael Mulcahy Because We Need an Ally at City Hall Working to Rebuild our Police Department.” — The San José Police Officers’ Association
- Hire more police officers to patrol our neighborhoods and provide them with the best training and crime fighting tools they need to keep all of us safe.
- Reduce the non-violent calls and paperwork our officers are burdened with so we can improve response times and focus our police on fighting crime.
- Target the retail thefts and quality-of-life crimes that are becoming all too common in San José.
- Reform laws like Prop 47 that effectively decriminalized shoplifting, so people are held accountable and offered a choice between going into treatment or job training – and going to jail.
- Apply proven crime-reduction tactics like job training, economic development, drug treatment and mental healthcare.
Economy
Creating High-Wage Jobs and Vibrant Business Districts
Supporting his neighbors, creating economic opportunity, and building up San José aren’t new jobs for Michael Mulcahy. Over the course of his entire adult life, Michael has devoted his personal time, professional career, and civic leadership to revitalizing San José neighborhoods. Michael was the Executive Director of one of Silicon Valley’s most effective programs serving youth and families, Children’s Musical Theater San Jose. He has helped lead efforts to revive San José’s economy — as Co-Chair of the San José Downtown Development Strategy Task Force, Chair of Team San José, President of Willow Glen Business Association, founding member of the Monterey Corridor Business Association and member of the board of the American Leadership Forum.
Michael and his wife Kimberly raised their three daughters in Willow Glen — where he has founded and runs successful neighborhood-serving businesses. He knows that small businesses can create hundreds, if not thousands, of high-wage jobs and economic opportunities for San José families. On City Council, Michael will bring a business-savvy voice to City Hall and will fight to:
- Cut unnecessary red tape — to lower regulatory barriers and speed up permitting to encourage entrepreneurship in our neighborhoods, rather than stifle it.
- Uplift local small businesses, which are central to creating high-wage jobs that give our neighbors the ability to support their families and thrive.
- Implement workforce training programs, with a strong focus on partnering with nonprofits to develop our city’s young people and members of at-risk communities.
- Address the jobs-to-housing imbalance by focusing on creating dramatically more housing downtown, near jobs and near well-served transit.
- Foster city vitality by elevating the arts in San José, which creates jobs and stimulates diverse income avenues for individuals, businesses and for the government to reinvest.
- Build on the success of proven public/private partnerships like Team San José (where Michael was a founding Board Member) which generates jobs and tax revenues by attracting conventions, visitors and by helping San José host major events and sports teams like the Sharks, the Quakes and now Bay FC.
Michael Mulcahy’s unwavering dedication to the revitalization of San José is not merely a campaign promise; it is a lifelong commitment that spans his professional and volunteer work. He has the business savvy and experience we need to uplift San José’s economy and workforce.
Cost of Living
From housing, to energy bills, to water bills to insurance bills and food bills – just about everything costs more these days.
A recent study found that San José faces the most expensive monthly bills of any major city in the nation – paying more each month for things like utilities, car payments, mortgages and even health insurance than city dwellers nationwide. Over 62% more, to be precise.
And just when the cost of everything is going up, there are still too many politicians who want our taxes to go up too. Michael Mulcahy says our first priority should be to make sure we are spending every tax dollar well – making sure we are focusing on evidence-based solutions.
And Michael will work with Mayor Matt Mahan to support a “back-to-basics” approach to city budgeting that gets City Hall focused on what matters most: standing up to wasteful spending and supporting the mayor’s proposals to tie future pay raises for politicians to results.
A Champion for Our Neighborhoods
Safer, Cleaner and More Vibrant Neighborhoods
Michael Mulcahy is committed to practical and proven solutions that prioritize the well-being of every San José resident. As a dedicated advocate for safe, clean and vibrant communities, Michael understands that addressing homelessness, ensuring public safety and fostering economic growth are interconnected challenges that demand real solutions.
As a neighborhood leader, small business owner and devoted community advocate, Michael Mulcahy will bring to the City Council a lifetime of commitment to the revitalization of San José. Led by urgency and compassion, Michael’s plan focuses on a better San José where everyone has a place to call home, our streets are safe and economic opportunities flourish for all of our neighbors.
Building the Housing We Need Without Destroying Our Single-Family Neighborhoods
Nearly every city in California has struggled to build enough affordable housing – and while San José has done better than others, our city is still becoming increasingly unaffordable for many of the teachers, nurses, first responders and other working families that call San José home.
But Michael knows we can create the housing we need without destroying our single-family neighborhoods. We need to stand up to the misguided state policies and opportunistic developers who literally want to bulldoze our neighborhoods to build high-rises, leaving us with a higher tax bill and no local control.
Furthermore, San José needs to execute its plan that took nearly a decade to create – the Urban Villages concept. This is the kind of thoughtful approach that puts housing downtown and near jobs and transit. This plan enjoys broad support – and we need to lower regulatory barriers, speed permitting, train our workforce and think creatively about how we can leverage our resources to lower capital costs so we can implement this thoughtful plan.
Holding City Hall Accountable
- Implementing more oversight over our homeless assistance programs, to ensure that our taxpayer dollars are spent on programs that are actually effective.
- Supporting Mayor Mahan’s “back-to-basics” approach and focusing on cleaning up blight and graffiti, filling in potholes and cleaning up encampments.
- Making it easier for our small businesses to create high-wage jobs and economic opportunity – the foundation of a city where families can find economic security.
Like most businesspeople, Michael is “results oriented.” It takes a sound business plan, great staff and very professional management to make a business grow. The same is true for the city. We need to stay focused on a sound “business plan” for the city, hire the right people to execute it, respond to the metrics we gather so we are always getting better and most of all – hold ourselves accountable to the results.